Is India Really ‘Divided’ by so Many Factors?

It has become a fancy to say “India is a nation that is divided by so many factors” and then to go on to lament and foment. Unfortunately, although those who say this deny it, violence is implicit in this view because all their lamentations and fomentations are geared towards removing what they perceive as “divisions”. Unfortunately, those perceived “divisions” are characteristics of life, and removing them is violence.

There is a non-violent view of India. To even understand this view, one must refrain from beginning with the postulate that India is “one this” or “one that” and later looking at every proof of the opposite as something that “divides” India. Once one refrains from this, it becomes possible to view India as a country with immense “diversity”. It also becomes possible to ask what it is that we would like India to be “one” in, and what it is that we would like India to be “many” in. Because, to deny plurality is to impose singularity; and that is nothing but violence.